An imprinting technique is a technique that transfers a pattern formed in a mold to an imprint material supplied on a substrate. The imprinting technique is proposed as a technique for manufacturing semiconductor devices or magnetic storage media. An imprinting apparatus brings an imprint material (e.g., photo-curable resin) supplied on a substrate and a mold having a pattern into contact, and cures the imprint material while they are in contact with each other. By widening a space between the cured imprint material and the mold to separate the mold from the imprint material, the pattern can be formed in (or transferred to) the imprint material on the substrate.
In the imprinting technique, a contact state between the mold and the imprint material (or substrate) is known to determine the quality of the resulting pattern. Patent Literature 1 proposes a method in which, while a mold and an imprint material are in contact, spreading of droplets of the imprint material supplied on a substrate is observed to determine a contact state between the mold and the substrate.